Why hold back my degree? IIUM grad asks after snapped giving flying kiss, shoulder shimmy
Jerry Choong
Malay Mail28 November 2019
Graduates attend the International Islamic University Malaysia’s 34th convocation ceremony in Gombak November 10, 2018. — Picture by Azneal IshakMore
KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 28 — A new graduate of the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) drew attention online after questioning the institution for withholding his degree scroll.
Many Malaysian Twitter and Facebook users appeared sympathetic to Rahimie Ramli’s situation after he highlighted the issue on social media and wondered if he might be penalised for blowing a kiss and doing a shoulder shimmy during the recent convocation ceremony which was captured on camera.
Rahimie related on Twitter that university staff refused to give him his degree scroll last Tuesday, saying he had to meet the admissions director first without being given a reason for it.
“They asked me to see the admissions director which I cannot do because he was involved with convo ceremony the entire day,” he tweeted, referring to IIUM’s 2019 convocation which ran from November 23 to 26.
He said he then emailed the director for a meeting this week.
“If my degree is getting pulled back, I see no reason why they should do so. During the convo ceremony, I did not do anything on the stage that can be considered as a misconduct. I merely went up and take my scroll as instructed.
“Before the procession arrived, I blew a kiss to the camera and followed it up with a shoulder shimmy. This was before the ceremony even started,” Rahimie said.
He said the gesture was aimed at his mother and aunt, who were among the audience in the convocation hall.
He added that a convocation personnel told graduands they were free to make gestures before going on stage to receive their scrolls.
Since then, Rahimie claimed pictures of his personal Twitter account have been circulating among IIUM staff.
“They have cut out the flying kiss part on the ‘live’ streaming video on YouTube. Now, why would they do that?” he said.
Rahimie defended himself by saying his gesture was never meant for anything harmful, and that he has always felt safe in his identity why pursuing his studies at IIUM.
“The reason why I go to IIU is because I know I can flourish in an Islamic institution. I have been sent to Islamic institutions all my life and they were all my choice and not my parents.
“Being in IIU, I feel safe with my identity. I feel like I can deeply understand more about Islam and humanity. That we are never supposed to resort to anything harsh on any minority groups,” he said.
In attending IIUM, Rahimie said he simply wanted to discover more about Islam, and how true is it that we have to punish these minorities just because of differences.
“In IIU, I have discovered the meaning of Islam and the meaning of humanity. I learned not to judge people and treat them equally because we are all His servants and none of us are superior to another except in piety, which is unseen. I believe that Islam is an inclusive religion and true to its name, Islam is peace,” he said.
Many Twitter users commenting on Rahimie’s situation expressed their sympathies, with some saying that they did not see why his gesture should be made an issue since he did not do it on stage.
Some even tagged Youth and Sports Minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, and urged him to look into the issue.
A clip of Rahimie making the gestures was featured on Malay radio station ERA.FM’s Facebook page, where it garnered over 1,400 shares and comments with over 5,200 likes at the time of writing.
Most of the comments found the flying kiss and shoulder shimmy more amusing rather than inappropriate.
Rahimie’s convocation ceremony took place last Monday. He was seen sitting alongside other fellow graduates facing the stage, when he spotted the ceremony camera looking at him.
Rahimie then he made the flying kiss and shoulder shimmy, and leaned back as he joked and laughed with another graduate on his left.
IIUM has responded to Malay Mail’s query, stating that the graduate was contacted last night via email to collect his degree scroll today.
Rahimie was also contacted directly but declined comment.
